


One Step Ahead

by Kaile (rcs)



Category: Ragnarok Online
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-07
Updated: 2011-04-07
Packaged: 2017-10-17 17:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/179210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rcs/pseuds/Kaile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>behind us, hell. before us, salvation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Step Ahead

Kanan's a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for.

It's in the way she doesn't complain about the heat, though he realizes they're in the middle of a volcano and she's honestly got every reason to, even with her hair in a heavy braid and twisted up into a bun that is unflattering but still attractive, as long as it's on her. It's in how she levels her revolvers, though the heat around them has her hands blistering, and how all she does is wrap her fingers in fabric and try again, rather than demanding to take a break.

Around them is just the roar of the fire and the sharp report of four guns, firing in perfect synchronization; he and she have been on missions together and know one another so well that at this point he thinks it might be more difficult to forget she's there than it would to know her location. And it's in the way that, when she spots the dark hulking form and its virally glinting sword coming towards them, two Kasas in tow, she doesn't bother panicking, but merely calls to him to look out as she turns, knowing he's doing the same, and bolts for the safety of the entrance. They'd taken quite a few chances this time around and had come out of those chances with some decent goods: a few blue boxes they hadn't opened, knowing the children loved to watch, a pair of katars and an axe that looked to be a good sell, and a few burning hearts that would be useful when winter hit. It was only right that those chances catch up on them, and only lucky that they weren't far from safety when the Sword Guardian had appeared.

They've encountered one before, from a far, far distance, and without someone to take the brunt of the blows they both now know-- knew even then-- that they don't stand a chance. Discretion being the better part of valor-- she's told him that several times, usually when he could tell she was trying to control her spitfire temper--, there's no problem running, especially as they've probably made several hundred thousand zeny today alone.

It's in the way she's able to run alongside him, though his legs are longer-- her speed is remarkable, even on this unstable land. The way she's always been able to keep up with him, even though he knows her well enough to know it's not easy for her like it is him, to move through sand and stone. They both know forest better than anywhere else, but sheer strength will get you a lot further than just determination, and she's got a lot more of the latter than the former.

Sometimes she seems stronger than he thinks he is. He's grown to take that a little for granted, though-- he's comfortable doing so, because it's her and they've known one another so long that it's safe to do it, usually. There were only a few circumstances where he can't count on her to be able to hold her own; this isn't one, he thinks with some relief.

Or wasn't, until the Guardian threw his spear.

Luck was almost definitely on Kanan's side, because it didn't pierce through her, but instead sideswiped her side. And in another testiment to that remarkable strength, she didn't cry out loud like any number of the squeaky town girls who hovered around him when Hallo dragged him out. He hardly missed a step as he saw her begin to stumble, and the Guardian not even slowing-- would it follow them outside of the volcano? Regardless, he scooped her up, aching as she whimpered at the sudden pressure on her now copiously bleeding side. It didn't look to be a mortal wound, but he needed to get her still to make sure, and they didn't have that option as the Kasas retreated to the safety of the volcano but the guardian followed. He had to get them both somewhere safe, and he didn't have the luxury of time. With her tight against his chest, the sour scent of blood and sweat mixing with whatever she perfumed her hair with-- perfumed it? Sometimes he forgot she was a girl under all that determination-- and reminding him why he was working on it, he rifled through his pockets. He had a butterfly wing, he knew it. He just needed to grab it and activate the spell in it...

The rising roar of the Sword Guardian, and the tooth-aching grind of armor on armor, was almost overwhelmingly loud and terrifyingly close when he felt the familiar silk-softness of the wing in his hand. Crushing it to powder, he felt the free-fall of teleportation, and then they were in the middle of the white stones of Al de Baran, her blood sticky on his hands as he lay her down in front of the Clock Tower. As she groaned, still conscious, he dug through his pack and pulled out a white potion, pouring it over the wound and watching her squirm in pain, freckles outstanding on her skin and sweat beading on her forehead. It bubbled over the wound-- not too bad, but probably very painful-- and she hissed, but when he looked into her eyes, concern and honest worry written across his features, he could see her try to school herself.

"'S not so bad," she tried, but he just shook his head, pulling a few fabric strips from the pack. It was easy to get to the wound and wrap it, and enlisting the help of the Clock Tower guard, whose hands weren't shaking like his were, they managed to tie it off. When all was said and done, she looked.... well, uncomfortable, but more so than he was. Injury was par for the course with their job, and both of them knew it, but it made him wonder what she had been through before, that the comforting one here was her, taking his bloodied hands between hers and offering a shaky smile. He wanted to grab her and pull her close, make sure she was fine and remind himself that she was still wholly there. It had been stressful, hearing her whimper as he tried to get them both to safety, and being unable to keep that spear away from her. He didn't, but he wanted to, and even that wanting had him a little shamefaced.

"...Stop that," she scolded, as if she'd read his thoughts. "Stop looking so guilty. It wasn't your fault." Maybe she had. It wouldn't be beyond her, he reasoned-- she always knew him as well as he knew her. Being with her was never as uncomfortable as it was being with Hallo and his entourage-- he never found himself having to look away from a too-exposed bosom, or too much leg, or a compromising position.

They spent a lot of quiet time together, but when they talked it was nice, too-- never overbearing or too flirtatious, but interesting and maybe a little gently teasing on her part, but never malicious. He liked Kanan-- had liked her a long time, since maybe before Hallo had shoved him in her direction. They'd walked a little after that, always far from the others in the paths he took the guild animals on to feed-- to the seashore, maybe, or to the rivers that bordered Schwarzwald. It'd taken him two weeks to get the nerve up to hold her hand, and when he'd tried, she'd looked at him and giggled before intertwining her hand with his-- it was like she knew what he was trying for before he did, but was always waiting up for him.

Like she'd outrun him, but never ran away from him... In fact, it almost felt like when he was coaxing a shy animal-- a Lunatic, or a Leaf Cat. Except this time he was the one being coaxed. And he'd never noticed.

Suddenly he was looking at her in a different light-- not the 'she's a girl' light, but in the 'she's a woman' light that his father had told him he'd eventually encounter. Every time he'd looked at her, she'd looked at him and hadn't looked at anything else. She was pretty, after all-- she could have, by now, spent her time with any number of the men who worked near or in the guild. But all that time, she'd shunned Hallo's party invitations, his promises to introduce her to handsome men, and had joined him in the barn or the stables. Had sat on a haybale rather than a cushioned chair, listening to him calm the animals and the quiet of his work rather than the music and laughter she could have been surrounded by.

How had it taken him so long to figure out why she had chosen him over those other opportunities?

She must have read his face, because while she looked a little amused, she was also blushing-- or maybe it was because he was watching her so intently. "We... uh, we should get back..."

He nodded, stomach fluttering, and when he picked her up it felt different-- he could feel how warm she was against him, and she settled easily against him, smelling of the medicine tang of white potions and something flowery. Familiar. He breathed in as the Warp Mage set up a warp home, and on the way across the void he figured it out.

Forget-me-nots.

  



End file.
